Evaluation of the Impact of pathology order entry systems in hospitals
Pathology laboratories play a key role in the patient care process, accounting for an estimated 70% of all hospital information used in decision making for admission, treatment and discharge of patients. The introduction of pathology order entry (POE) systems have the potential to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the pathology test order procedure, in particular, to delivery faster results to clinicians allowing earlier diagnosis and treatment decisions to be made. The task of implementing these systems remains very challenging for hospitals, and the evidence of their impact is scant and variable. POE systems can have major implications for laboratories across a range of areas including how pathology laboratories organize and conduct their work and even how they relate with other hospital sectors.
Our evaluation of POE systems in two Sydney hospitals has used multi-method approaches to investigate the impact of these systems across a number of areas including:
- The quality of data received by pathology laboratories
- Their impact on indicators of efficiency eg turnaround times and test volumes
- The appropriateness of pathology test ordering
- Their impact on work processes and the organizational dynamic of pathology laboratories
- Their effect on inter-departmental relations
Lead Researcher: Andrew Georgiou -
Research Funding: ARC Linkage grant in partnership with NSW Health 2003-2007
Collaborators:
- Concord Repatriation General Hospital,
- Liverpool Hospital,
- Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
- Centre for Clinical Governance Research in Health, University of NSW